Afrikaners is Plesierig

Monday’s Chenin Blanc Association Conference bore its first fruit on the beach in Swakopmund today when Jean Engelbrecht, of Rust en Vrede fame, launched his Donkiesbaai Steen 2011 at a crayfish and kabeljou braai. Although he won’t have made any friends in the Association by using the “S” word in place of the approved French name, Chenin Blanc.

But why not call it Steen, which is what people sharing Jean’s mother tongue call Chenin? Heck, the whole label is written in the language of Langenhoven and the brand name is an Afrikaansation of Donkin’s Bay, anyway. Sir Rufane Shaw Donkin ran the Cape when the 1820 settlers arrived and got to name a bay where the Engelbrechts have a holiday home. His late wife Elizabeth got to name a whole city, Port Elizabeth.

Jean alights from Albatross Air

Jean alights from Albatross Air

Jean usually flies BA, as they gooi hom die taal and a koerant to read. But this morning we flew Albatross Air from Windhoek to Swakopmund as there was no BA flight available. How ironic is it that BA is the only domestic carrier to embrace Afrikaans in this way? It reminds me of the silly joke where the passenger asks for some black pepper and is brought the Sowetan.

Tonight Jean hosts a Windhoek Wine Festival at his Stellenbosch Wine Bar and Restaurant in Klein Windhoek. A shining lesson on how to market wine in foreign countries.

When Rand Merchant Bank opened up in Namibia last month, Jean arranged a dinner for the Namibian Prime Minister and assorted movers and shakers. Danie de Wet, Jan Boland Coetzee, Schalk Burger and Jean each presented a wine at the four course dinner.

The meal was a far more powerful marketing statement that the WOSA SA tasting in Luanda earlier this year, at which pourers outnumbered guests by a wide margin. Jean reports his bi-monthly winemaker dinners sell out in a few hours and his restaurant has become a wine hub for Windhoek. Perhaps some of WOSA’s R25 million budget can be urgently redeployed to develop such humble initiatives in our neighbouring countries. It’s certainly working in Namibia.